Tuesday, November 20, 2012

TA05 M-Four

 

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Item #84255 is one of my favorite chassis. At first I thought, that’s a bit expensive for a mini and then I saw that it was a 380 motor only (as opposed to the more standard 540 sized motor) and finally this is on the official Tamiya USA page. “This chassis is designed for use with Item 55105 Tamiya LF Battery LF1100-6.6V Racing Pack (M-Size) Note: Battery is not imported into the USA. See below for substitute compatible battery packs.” And below there is no substitute battery listed. So expensive, strange motor and impossible to get battery… pass! right? Well actually… not quite…I was at the Tamiya track in Aliso Viejo, CA and talked to someone that had the car and loved it. “Just get the servo relocation kit and a novak mongoose 13.5”. I was intrigued. So when I saw it on sale at rcMart I got it.

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The Novak mongoose ESC is discontinued however. Anyone that claimed to have it in stock didn’t and an email to Novak confirmed that there would be a replacement product “in the future”. So instead I got the Novak Three-80 13.5 motor and EDGE ESC. I don’t know what the difference between them are, but one of the benefits of the Novak Three-80 is that it’s a 540 sized pinion shaft so you can use the normal pinion gears instead of using this adapter tube that the kit comes with.

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First time at the track I tried a stick pack lipo, but it was sticking outside the chassis too far for my liking. So I got a Reedy shorty pack which fits perfectly. I just wish there was a way to keep the battery without having to use (fiber) glass tape. The clearance to the belt is very tight, but it is for a stick pack as well.

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For a kit that was initially this expensive it is a bit weak that there are no Aluminum uprights. This is a very special kit and should come fully upgraded out of the box and not with plastic uprights. I added the M05 front uprights and the 1.5 Deg toe-in rear uprights. I’m going to swap out the plastic suspension mounts with aluminum as well.

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I got a hot tip that Sweep 40’s in the front and 25’s in the back is a good setup for mini’s at the Tamiya Track. So that’s what I put on this car and it was very quick! I ordered a few more of those to put on my M05 as well Smile

Other than the hop-ups I already mentioned I built it according to the manual.

To set the ride height so I don’t drag the chassis I had to pre-load it quite a bit and got a tip from “the car whisperer” at the Tamiya track to try some non-mini dampers in the rear to soften it up some more.

One thing I’m still trying to figure out is how I can fit stabilizers on it.

But to finish I just have to say this was an unexpectedly great car and I love to drive it!

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